The Seattle-based company finalized a lease Wednesday on a planned 650,000-square-foot building in Euclid, on the site of the empty Euclid Square Mall. The deal coalesced barely a month after Amazon committed to its first such local project, an even larger facility set to open next year in North Randall, where Randall Park Mall once stood.

In its quest to deliver products to customers faster, Amazon is bulking up its presence in Ohio and other states. Two fulfillment centers opened in the Columbus area last year, about 20 miles apart - roughly the driving distance between Euclid and North Randall. And the company recently confirmed plans for a project in Monroe, between Dayton and Cincinnati.

"Our growth in Ohio is the result of an outstanding workforce and incredible customers," Sanjay Shah, Amazon's vice president of customer fulfillment for North America, said in an emailed statement. "We are proud to be adding 1,000 new jobs to the more than 6,000 Amazonians already working in the state."

In both North Randall and Euclid, workers will gather small items such as books, electronics, games and toys, pack them into boxes and ship them off. Schematics for the buildings show raised storage platforms where robots will ferry items to and from shelves. The jobs will be full-time positions, with immediate access to health care and retirement benefits and, later on, educational opportunities largely paid for by the company.

Amazon typically starts hiring six to 10 weeks before a fulfillment center opens. Postings on the Glassdoor jobs website indicate that average hourly pay for fulfillment center associates across the country is just under $12.50.

A spokeswoman wouldn't put a firm timeline on the Euclid project, beyond saying it will be finished in 2019. In an application for property-tax abatement filed with the city this week, the company said the building will be complete during the second quarter of that year.

For Euclid, the development solves the puzzle of what to do with a dead mall, the type of sprawling, complicated property that can become a lingering eyesore. Euclid Square Mall opened in 1977 on a former industrial site. It struggled from the late 1990s until last year, when the city forced a closure due to safety concerns.

This photograph shows the main entrance to Euclid Square Mall in 1977, the year the project opened. After nearly two decades of decline, the mall closed late last year, after the city's building department raised concerns about safety.Plain Dealer Historical Photograph Collection

"The economic impact for us will be significant," Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail said. "One thousand jobs will truly help our economic base, in terms of our ability to provide key services to our residents. And we're hoping that it continues to spur and attract additional development. We're seeing some really great things happen along that industrial corridor."

Landing Amazon wasn't a fait accompli, even after the publicly traded company inked its deal in North Randall. The local fulfillment-center projects were on parallel tracks, working their way through a cloaked process shepherded by public officials, the chamber of commerce, the state and Team NEO, a regional economic-development organization. And until a lease was signed, nobody was talking.

Seefried Industrial Properties, the Atlanta-based developer behind the North Randall project, has agreements to buy 68 acres spanning Euclid Square Mall and vacant buildings on its fringes from multiple owners. Demolition will start this year, followed by construction in the spring. Euclid City Council recently approved a zoning change from retail to industry.

The Euclid fulfillment center will include 53 truck docks and surface parking for 200 trailers and nearly 1,800 cars. With 1.7 million square feet of floor space spread across three levels, the building will be larger than the mall it supplants. And it will be three-quarters of the size of Amazon's North Randall warehouse.

"The big win here is we do not have to create any substantial new infrastructure," said Vince Adamus, vice president of real estate and business development at the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the regional chamber. "Whether you're looking at underground infrastructure or road systems, it's all in place. ... And this is really saving us, as a region."

Cuyahoga County could assist with modest street work, such as driveways, turn lanes, road re-striping and installation of new traffic lights. Cuyahoga County Council approved a similar package this week for North Randall. But that's a relatively small investment compared with the costs of building highways ramps and new streets to serve an undeveloped site.

Site work already is under way on the former Randall Park Mall site, roughly 20 miles from Euclid, where Amazon expects to open a hulking fulfillment center next year.Michelle Jarboe/The Plain Dealer

"Over the last two years, we've been laser-focused on creating jobs," Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish said in an emailed statement. "So it's very exciting to support a second Amazon distribution center, creating another 1,000 jobs for residents in the county - in addition to the 2,000 jobs at the Randall Park Mall site."

The Euclid building will qualify for 100 percent property-tax abatement for 15 years, under a program that dates back to the 1970s. With abatement, a property owner doesn't pay taxes on the improvements, though the underlying land still generates tax revenues. The value of the abatement isn't clear yet.

Adamus predicted that the project cost will surpass $175 million, including land sales, demolition, construction, equipment and improvements to streets or utilities. "No matter how you look at this, it's a pretty substantial investment," he said.

The state has chipped in to land other Amazon deals. But the Euclid project hasn't appeared yet on an Ohio Tax Credit Authority Agenda. That board met Monday and isn't scheduled to convene again until late October. A spokesman for JobsOhio, a statewide, nonprofit economic-development corporation, wouldn't talk about tax credits or other potential incentives.

"We're working with the company on that, and once a final agreement is executed, we'll make it public," said Matt Englehart, the spokesman.

Amazon shrouds its real estate dealings in secrecy, with the exception of the company's recent headline-generating announcement that it plans to establish a second headquarters somewhere in North America. Cleveland is among scads of cities racing to meet an Oct. 19 deadline to submit a proposal for that project.

Ted Griffith, JobsOhio's managing director for information technology, logistics and distribution, didn't bite in response to a question about whether the state's recent dealings with Amazon might give major Ohio cities a leg up in the headquarters hunt. But relationships don't hurt.

Griffith said the fulfillment-center deals - and other recent e-commerce and logistics projects - speak not only to Ohio's prime location but also to its workforce quality. John Minor, JobsOhio's president and chief executive officer, echoed that belief in a written statement. "Amazon," he said, "continues to demonstrate confidence in Ohio's communities and people by growing throughout the state."